I joined the team just before a massive disruption to the organization (a significant merger). Shortly after this, the new investors began to strip away everything that held both the individual companies and the combined organization together; with inevitable results. Good talent left, more good talent was laid off during continual reorganizations. Mass layoffs occurred during time periods (such as two weeks before Christmas when management was done planning them as early as the first week in November) that reinforced the fact that employees were just so much human cattle to the owners. To be clear, layoffs and reorgs are necessary business tools. Undertaking them with no regard to basic decency is unforgivable.
Lack of resources was painfully evident, with development slowing to a crawl and field personnel greatly restricted from access to necessary tools.
The "old guard" did valiantly attempt to keep the company culture strong, but with most of that old guard fired or otherwise not there anymore, it was a losing battle. Continuously changing product offering packages (as in, massive changes about once a quarter or more frequently) left the sales org paralyzed and unable to properly position anything.
Finally, lack of strong development efforts led to a once industry-leading set of products becoming aged to a point beyond outdated. New feature sets and updates were coming, but would not have arrived prior to competition overtaking us and stealing away business. Two entire product lines were removed due to low number of units sold per year - even though their cost to the customer was so high that a low number of units was still a large amount of revenue.
The last nail in the coffin was the divestiture of all of the remaining innovative products and the loss of a large number of the remaining solid employees. What's left may be able to stand on its own - but only with a large investment in talent and tech.
After the Christmas Massacre, I had to leave, I couldn't keep working for a company that treated their people so horribly. Yes, it's a business and it needs to make money, but there were other options available, including performing the layoffs earlier so that people could at least have a chance at finding a new place before the holiday break. My opinion is that this was just one more move in a line of inexcusable moves that won't end anytime soon. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend anyone sign on to work here.
